Night By Night
by Sleepy Lotus
Summary: After saving Henry from Mendoza's clutches, Vicki's determined to heal his wounds. Whether he likes it or not... Henry/Vicki


_Night by Night_

_By: Sleepy Lotus_

_Disclaimer: Don't own it, but would like to. Offers, Lifetime? Eh? Eh? Fine…bitches._

Henry awoke at dusk to the sound of his phone.

He let it ring.

The vampire lay in the darkness of his bedroom, the events of the night previous playing over in his mind, tormenting him. Javier Mendoza's torture, his demands for confession of sins not committed. A hypocrite, like most men who rose to high station within the church, waving the banner of God and piety to distract from the truth, their greed and hunger for power.

Henry did not regret Mendoza's death in the least.

But there were other regrets from that misadventure. Delphine's final death. He'd been too late to save her, that sweet woman. The world was a bit poorer for the loss of her love, her creative mind.

And there were the survivors. Vicki, and Celluci. He'd nearly pounced upon the night blind P.I., remembered hungering for her blood, her hot heart, wanting it more than anything else in the world. When Celluci stepped in in her stead, he'd taken the switch, gratefully, and a dark place in his heart had whispered, _finish him off. Finish the cop, and Victoria will be all yours_.

Henry groaned at remembering his wicked thought, the strength of that darkness inside, and wondered at how he'd been able to stop himself from draining the homicide detective. He could have taken Celluci's life _so easily_. The thought sickened him, and though hunger burned in his belly, he could not bring himself to rise to go feed. He didn't want to go anywhere that evening; he didn't trust himself to be around warm hearts and thundering pulses right then.

The phone rang once more. Annoyed, Henry glanced at the display, seeing Vicki's number.

His heart clenched at the sight, at the thought of her. His sweet Vicki. He loved her now, this he knew.

_And he could have killed her too._

Disgusted, with himself, with the beast within him, he pushed the phone aside, and stared at the ceiling. She would be frightened of him now. Now, she _truly _knew what he was. There could be no glamorizing it anymore; at the core, Henry was a bloodthirsty monster. A ravening beast.

Perhaps it could be a dangerous thing to be left alone with his own thoughts at a time like this, but that night solitude was all Henry really wanted, all he could really bear.

**OOOOOOO**

At the sound of the door to his condo cracking**, **Henry groaned inwardly, identifying the intruder immediately. He knew her scent, the sound of her heart beat, her quick breathing.

Could she still be an intruder, if he'd given her a key?

_For emergencies_, he'd said.

Right.

They both knew that he hoped some night, she would consider the nagging desire in her heart and her hips for his touch would be considered an _emergency_. That she would break down and come to him, because he didn't seem to be allowed to go to her. He'd tried, and every time, she fought him off, with that iron will of hers.

_Why_? Now that was a question beyond even the wisdom he'd gained in nearly five centuries of life.

He found his heart beating in time to hers, as she neared closer, the predator in him rising. _Be still_, he demanded of it, and though it sank to the recesses of his consciousness once more, it whispered in promise, _Later. We will have her later. _

As she opened the door, Henry flicked on the bedside lamp, for her benefit. He knew she couldn't see a thing in the dark. The surprise in her eyes would have been priceless, were he not quite feeling so raw.

"Henry, are you alright?" she demanded, anxious. "You weren't answering your phone."

Physically, he looked alright. All the cuts and abrasions had healed during his daytime rest, though he still felt a bit sore at the core, and where the _Illuminacion del Sol _had pierced his chest. But there was a shadow in his eyes that suggested the mind may not have fared quite so well.

"Perhaps I didn't answer for a reason," he answered haughtily, in a tone that reminded her that he'd been a prince once, lived in a palace and was bred to talk down to commoners as a matter of reflex. "Perhaps I wanted to be left alone." His expression embodied boredom at its purest, but the cop in Vicki could see it was a mask.

"Or you're afraid to _not _be alone," she countered quietly.

The vampire sighed. "Please go, Vicki. Leave me to myself tonight."

Vicki did not answer, but set her famed black bag down on the ground, closing the door behind her. As she drew her shirt up over her head, Henry felt ambushed by desire, the hunger rising once more at the sight of her bare skin. "What are you _doing?" _he demanded, far too petulant than was fitting for a creature who had lived so very long.

In truth what he really felt was _panic. _She _would_ push him tonight, wouldn't she? She would push his control to the limits; he'd used so much last night, he didn't know if he had any left to save her with, this time.

Defying him with her eyes, Vicki unbuttoned her jeans, peeling them down her hips to reveal her panties matched the bra, a midnight blue that complimented her eyes in a way that seemed unfair to Henry. She was so beautiful, and he doubted she even knew it. Celluci didn't seem like the kind of man to tell her, and at any rate, she wouldn't listen to anything if she didn't want to. Particularly flattery.

"I don't think you should be alone right now," she finally answered, flicking off the lamp once more. She knew the light hurt his eyes, that he preferred darkness.

_Creature of the night. _

"And that leaves you half naked because…?"

She hesitated for a moment, but in the end reached up to unclasp her bra, tossing it and her underwear to the floor.

_Oh, alright. _Completely _naked, then. _

"I can see you perfectly, you know," he growled, his mouth beginning to salivate at the glorious sight of her. Maybe she joked about being _too old for this shit, _but her body was long and lithe, smooth and young and he wanted to explore all its secrets.

Sweet Jesu, what _was _she doing?

"Good. I think you've earned it." She slid beneath the sheet with him, knowing full well that he preferred to sleep nude. Her hand slid over his bare chest, and his heart clenched with longing. But he didn't trust himself in the least, nor did he know how to make her leave short of picking her up and dumping her out the door. Exasperated, he flipped on his side with a growl, turning away from her warm, inviting body.

"Don't push me away, Henry. Let me comfort you."

"You shouldn't be here, Vicki. I haven't fed yet. Who knows what I might do with a morsel like you."

Vicki, however, did not seem to be worried in the least about her future with him in this room. Plowing through his protests, ignoring his verbal wishes completely, she spooned him from behind, fitting the curve of his taut rear in the cradle of her hips, her bare breasts pressed to his back. Henry found he loved the way she fit against him, her long torso matched for his, and couldn't suppress a small whimper for it.

Lord, the blood in her. Hot and pulsing, he could nearly taste it.

She noticed that he relaxed slightly as she held him, sliding one arm around his side, palming the flesh upon his heart. That particular muscle, so old and wise, she found beating nearly in time to her own thundering pulse.

Henry, suppressing a sudden urge to sob, also nearly laughed at the seeming absurdity of this moment. Being coddled like a baby by a woman a mere, a _very _mere fraction of his own age. He could take refuge in her strength. She would carry them both if she had to, on the wings of her will alone. He had no doubt that she could, struck suddenly by the depth of his faith in this mortal woman. His trust in her.

Tears filled his eyes in the dark, and he was grateful she could not see his weakness, even as he wished she would go, leave him to his pain, to the release of tears. After so many centuries pass one by, one learns to indulge in the necessity when the need surfaced. Otherwise the weight would become far too much to bear.

"I have a few ideas about what you might do," she said softly, and he could smell the salt of her own tears, took some solace in this shared pain. But her voice was steady, strong, no indication of vulnerability. "You might continue to sulk, which is fine, if you want to. You might just lay here, and let me hold you." Vicki kissed the back of his neck, sending shivers down his spine. "And if you need to, or just want to, you might drink my blood. But I know you won't hurt me."

"Trusting soul."

There was a fragility in his tone Vicki never beheld before in the vampire. Always, he was so sure, so confident and arrogant and proud, to the point of being infuriating.

"You could have killed Mike last night. I know you could have, maybe even wanted to a little. But you didn't. You battled your beast and you won, Henry, because you are so strong, and so _good_."

Henry reached up to clasp the hand pressed over his heart, cool fingers lacing in hers. "I'm a monster," he insisted raggedly. "I _did _want to kill him. In part so I could have you all to myself. In part, just because I _could_."

Vicki couldn't help but think to herself that she too wanted to kill Celluci, for the way he betrayed Henry, and her, to the manipulative inquisitor. At the very least, she wouldn't be forgiving him anytime soon.

"You're more human than anyone I've ever met," she protested, a thread of emotion finally showing through in her own tone. "And I…" She faltered in her speech, and the vampire found himself holding his breath, gone completely still in the way only the undead can.

"And I love you for it," she finally confessed quietly, feeling so afraid, so suddenly vulnerable, yet so relieved to have it out.

The vampire released his shuddering breath, and she realized with a start that he was crying. Quietly, but still he trembled.

"You _shouldn't_," he hissed, fighting like hell not to lose it completely in front of her. Who _was_ this woman, who could unsettle him so, with a word or with her eyes, with a brush of fingers upon his arm? He didn't deserve her; he didn't know what mistake in heaven's plan had brought her here with him.

Vicki lay quietly, understanding the vampire's pain, his anger and denial. She knew he thought she shouldn't love her only because he feared hurting her; Mendoza shook him up, turned his image of himself as a civilized, in control vampire upon its head. But she'd worked homicide for years; she understood the depths of human character; that anyone can lapse. She certainly oscillated enough from day to day. But she'd also witnessed the amazing strength in people. What they can recover from, and lead normal lives once more.

It boiled down to one thing; she wasn't afraid of him anymore, and she needed him to know it. Silent tears sliding down her own cheeks, she settled against him, burying her nose in the sweet-smelling curls at the nape of his neck. In the dark they clung to each other, wordlessly tearing down barriers between them, knocking down walls built high around hearts long ago.

Slowly the trembling in their cores stilled, and in this peace Henry noticed the sudden thundering of Vicki's heart signaling something about to change. Slowly, she raised to kiss his neck, and he sighed for her touch. Her lips grazed his shoulder, and above his skin she whispered, "_I like-"_

Vicki choked on her whispered words, pausing, nervous, unsure. Henry could suddenly hear the blood rushing in his ears, the thundering of his own heart, as he hung on the echo of her voice in the dark. As he was about to whirl upon her, grip her shoulders mad from the suspense - demand _What do you like, Victoria? _She continued.

"_I like my body when it is with your body." _Slowly drawing her hand from his grasp over his heart, her fingertips slid to trace the curve of his shoulder, the muscles of his arm and torso. "_It is so quite a new thing. Muscles better and nerves more. i like your body." _

He gasped as her fingers strayed below the sheet to the curve of his bare bottom, nails grazing his flesh lightly. His nerves lit afire with the sensations she drew from him, slow teasing exploration. She punctuated her next words with kisses and caresses upon his spine that drove him to distraction, caused him to clench his own hands tight in an effort to be still. _"I like what it does, I like its hows. I like to feel the spine of your body and its bones, and the trembling - firm - smooth ness and which I will again and again, and again kiss-"_

Henry couldn't stand it any longer.

_Sweet Jesu_, from where had she stolen the key to his innermost longings? She'd memorized this whole damn poem, and the thought of her pouring over a book of poetry with her cool detective's mind, absorbing every word like a case-file, filled him with desire. It was E.E. Cummings. A bit modern for his taste, but he knew it, as he knew so many verses written in the name of love and passion, stored them in the vast stacks of his vampire mind.

Heart and other parts swollen with longing, Henry turned in her arms, gathering her to him with a kiss that left her breathless and trembling. He kissed the pulse throbbing behind her ear, whispering, "_I like kissing this and that of you," _His lips traveled down, across her breasts, grazing nipples with flat teeth, mouth blazing a trail of fire down to her secret center. "_I like, slowly stroking the, shocking fuzz of your electric fur, and what-is-it comes over parting flesh."_

Reaching down, he found her soaked through between her legs, warm fluid viscous and inviting in the most intoxicating way, and she squirmed at his touch. A strong thigh moved to part her legs, making room for the breadth of his hips, and Vicki gasped wildly as he pushed inside her without so much as a warning.

"Henry!" she cried out, back bowing, nails dug deep into his shoulders.

The vampire moved his hips gently, fighting for room in the snug sheath of her sex, the tightness impossibly marvelous. They fit like she were made for him, he thought, not without a touch of ego to God's design.

"_And eyes big love-crumbs, and possibly i like the thrill of under me you quite so new_."

He moved his hips a little more, drawing back and sliding in once more, tearing a gasp from her. But he could see her contented smile in the dark, tinged with hunger, and triumph. "Did you learn that poem for _me_, my lady?"

"Yes," she sighed as he thrust once more, sending a bolt of pleasure to spear her spine. She wanted to gather him to her as close as she possibly could. She wanted to comfort and heal him, absorb him into her body and birth him anew. "I memorized it this afternoon."

"So you've been planning this seduction all day?" he asked, amused even as he made love to her.

Mind clouded with pleasure, Vicki somehow managed to flash back on the memory of earlier that day, a haggard Celluci barging in her office to find her reading love poetry, of all things. The fight had been phenomenal, and she'd regretted not buying the hardcover copy.

"Part of it, though I ended up throwing the book at Celluci this afternoon," she admitted, squeezing his hand and he laced his fingers in hers, pushing her arms above her head. His teeth grazed the sensitive underside of her arm, but just as she felt certain he would bite her, he moved on to pay attentions to other places.

Henry's next declaration completely waylaid her, causing her to pause amid the cloud of pleasure they floated upon. She loved this, feeling him inside her, being one with the vampire who had pursued her from their very beginning. Why had she waited so long?

"You should forgive him," he sighed, moving them to the edge of the bed, fingers tangled in her hair as her shoulders hung off just a bit. Just enough to curve her spine, tightening her sheath - _oh -_ it was glorious for the both of them. She liked being held by him; she liked finally trusting another being enough to _let go. _

"I don't think I can, after what he did to you," she confessed, voice ragged. She was nearing her end, golden sensations and a tell-tale tension wreaking havoc with the nerves between her hips.

"But he did it _for _you_,_" Henry explained, thrusting hard. He had thought on this, dissected it from every angle while tortured by the priest. At first, he had vowed to see Celluci dead for his infraction. Until he realized that in the detective's place, watching a powerful creature of the night seduce the woman he loved, Henry might have done the same thing. Committed the same treachery. For Vicki, he couldn't think of much he wouldn't do to see her safe, and knew Celluci felt the same way. Even if he couldn't quite admit it. "He loves you. As I love you. You run a man ragged, my lady, with the wide range of your life-threatening endeavors."

Vicki bit her lip as the warmth began to spread through her limbs. She was going to explode any second, and couldn't fathom how Henry could dwell on this, at _this _moment.

"Have _you _forgiven him?" she demanded.

"I think I could find it in my heart," groaned Henry, "If you were to be mine in the end."

He regretted it the moment he said it, even if it was how he truly felt. How would Vicki react to a declaration of possession? He knew very well that in the end, Vicki would ever only really belong to Vicki.

And so it was to his deepest surprise, when she sighed against his neck, walls beginning to clench around him with the final urgency. It was a simple answer, but one he cherished, devoured as soon as it left her lips.

"_Yes_."

She tumbled off the edge with a wanton sound that sent Henry's blood to boil, and he soon followed, spilling his release inside her in a hot rush. Exhausted, they bathed in the glow of making love while being in love. It was only as the aftershocks of their activities slowly faded that Vicki drew back, fighting to make out her lover's expression. It was one of relaxed joy, but she couldn't see it, and settled for a languid kiss.

"You didn't bite me," she noticed, a bit bewildered. Wasn't during sex the best feed a vampire could have? She'd felt so certain that after his injuries the night previous, he would want the blood.

"I wasn't sure you…I'm not sure _I'm _ready," he admitted candidly.

"You'll have to feed eventually, Henry, you can't starve yourself."

With a wicked smile, the vampire rolled onto his back, drawing Vicki to fill his arms. "I have no intention to." Her blood was a delicacy, so rare and strong and full flavored. He'd craved it constantly, since the first time she shared it with him. And so it seemed there was one more confession for him, but one he meant with the utmost sincerity. "I crave you, Vicki. I need you madly, and some nights it frightens me. Because I am vampire, and you are so very…"

"Mortal?"

"Fragile."

The P.I. snorted most inelegantly, shrugging against him, kissing his chest. "Same same."

"Perhaps."

She lay in silence for moments more, and he could nearly sense the wheels turning. "I know I said earlier, that a relationship between a vampire and a blinding P.I. is doomed to an unhappy ending," she reflected. "But it isn't exactly true. Even for a creature like you, Henry, there is no such thing as forever. I don't know why I ever thought I could expect it. Demand it, of anyone."

"So?" There was apprehension in his tone; unsure of where exactly she was going with this train of thought.

"So, let's take it day by day," she suggested. "Night by night, I mean. Tonight was lovely. Priceless. And I'm willing to bet we've got a few more of those in us."

Suddenly very pleased by the scope of her view, Henry turned her face to his for a gentle kiss. The tenderness in his lips caused Vicki's heart to ache, but somehow in the most delicious way. "As my lady wishes," he agreed. The hunger rumbled, deep in his core, and Henry felt enveloped in the warmth and trust of the woman laying in his arms.

_Night by night_, he recited to himself.

Simple.

Perfect.

"_Night by night," _he murmured against her skin, tonguing her pulse gently. He felt leagues more secure, and _hungry _for the flavors of this woman. Suddenly not so intent on denying himself, or her, "Starting…now," he sighed, and Vicki cried out as he sank fangs into her neck, grabbed a handful of soft curls.

One thing was certain. They were off to a momentous start.


End file.
